NICTA executives win three prestigious ATSE Clunies Ross Awards

NICTA executives win three prestigious ATSE Clunies Ross Awards

NICTA is proud to announce that three of its senior executives have won prestigious ATSE Clunies Ross Awards. The awards recognise Australia’s visionary scientists and technologists who have successfully bridged the gap between research and the marketplace.

Dr David Skellern, NICTA CEO, was a joint winner with Dr Neil Weste for their work in founding Radiata Communications in 1997. Radiata Inc built wireless LAN chips based on research led by Dr Skellern at Macquarie University, in collaboration with CSIRO. Radiata demonstrated the world’s first IEEE 802.11a chipset in September 2000 and was acquired by Cisco Systems later that year.

Dr John Parker, NICTA Chief Technology Officer, Implant Systems, won for his important contributions to the design of the Cochlear implant, or ‘bionic ear’. He led the R&D team that developed Cochlear’s Nucleus 24 implant system and subsequent systems including the Cochlear ‘Freedom’ system.

Dr Terry Percival, Director of the NICTA Neville Roach Laboratory, shares his ATSE Clunies Ross Award with four fellow team members from the celebrated CSIRO group behind the Wi-Fi wireless communication technology that is now found in laptops and mobile devices around the world.

“This year’s ATSE Clunies Ross Award winners have made significant and positive impacts on the lives of many Australians and our economy through the development and commercialisation of health, communication and industrial innovations,” said Mr Bruce Kean AM FTSE, Chairman of the ATSE Clunies Ross Foundation.

A complete list of ATSE Clunies-Ross winners can be found at www.atse.org.au.

About NICTA

National ICT Australia Ltd (NICTA), Australia’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research Centre of Excellence, is developing technologies which will meet the current and future needs of the community in fields which will lead to large economic, social and environmental benefits for Australia. NICTA has five laboratories around the country. Since NICTA was founded in 2002, it has created four new companies, developed a substantial technology portfolio of patent applications and continues to supply new talent to the ICT industry through the NICTA-enhanced PhD program.

NICTA is funded by the Australian Government as represented by the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and the Australian Research Council through the ICT Centre of Excellence program. In addition to federal funding NICTA is also funded and supported by the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland and Victorian Governments, The Australian National University, Griffith University, University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology and The University of Sydney.

For further information:

Dorothy Kennedy

Communications Specialist, NICTA

Ph: 02 9376 2098 or 0488 229 687